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SACD Players

Hello,

New member here. I am looking to add an SACD player in order to play the DSD layer of SACD directly. Based on my research I have shortlisted PS Audio Direct Stream Memory player and McIntosh MCT500.

Option 1) I currently own McIntosh MA5300 which means I can use MCT500 with supplied DIN cable connected to MA5300’s DA1

Option 2) Purchase PS Audio Direct Stream Memory player and DirectStream DAC MK1 (Both discontinued)

From what I understand the memory buffering and Air Lens would make the media sound better. Whereas, I haven’t found many reviews on MCT500.

Both options would roughly cost the same. I am looking for the better sound. Which option is better? Any advice or insights would help.

Thank you,

SA

rlsammie

Showing 1 response by brge

brge
11 posts
 

I am the owner of a PS Audio Directstream DAC MK1 (including output transformer upgrade): it is a great DAC, but I noticed that over time, I could get some listening fatigue. At one point, my old Micromega CDF1 CD player gave out - I was only using it very sparingly with most of my listening being done through the DSD MK1 DAC. After some shopping around for a new CD player, I was intrigue by the Marantz SACD 30n: it was both a CD player and a DAC accepting USB input, and was doing a DSD conversion (which I found much smoother than PCM when properly implemented) using the Marantz Musical Mastering (MMM) digital-to-analog converter as a lesser version than the one available on their Reference SACD and CD Player SA-10. To this day, I have not found one single PCM implementation that did not cause me listening fatigue (be it DAC chips, R2R, Chord pulse-array). To my surprise, after some serious listening, I found that the Marantz SACD 30n provided me with more details, more natural tones, and warmer/richer medium frequencies than the DSD MK1 DAC, so much so that I sold the DSD MK1 DAC and replaced it permanently with the Marantz 30n.

I strongly suggest that you would take time to listen to the Marantz SACD 30n.

Note: I listen almost exclusively to Sacred Choral chants and listening fatigue can come very quickly if the high frequencies (sibilance) are too present. I am now retired, bought my Marantz 30n back in March 2022 (Capitalsound.ca for CAD$3,800), and do not plan to upgrade my sound system any time soon.

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